Regarding post counts...(READ BEFORE VOTING)

[Hiryuu]

Still, it would be nice if the incentive to spam like hell was removed - the forums would be more streamlined as a result and would actually be constructive! It's mental I know!

[Totallyout2lunch]

Why bother to spam, when you can reply to a topic....

<postcount=postcount+1>

[da_zeg]

The simplest way to solve the problem is to simply ban/delete the accounts of spammers. After starting from 0 a few times, even the most thick lame-ass n00b will begin to understand that they are not welcome in a community such as this. They will eventually move on to the kiddie forums where they belong.

Idea: Give some of the more respected\trusted members moderator status. Allow them to sift through a topic or two and delete or move all non constructive gibberish.

[Soulkeeper]

I've voted towards epsilon's favour, put simply for the reasons he stated.

Idea: Give some of the more respected\trusted members moderator status. Allow them to sift through a topic or two and delete or move all non constructive gibberish.

Hmmm, this probably isn't the best idea you've come up with, da_zeg. Alowing 'respected' forum members to have moderator access just because they seem intelligent could cause problems. It opens up too much risk that they would abuse their powers, and also attempt to silence people they don't like, or disagree with. I have a brother who was a well respected member of an online gming community. He was invited to become a member of staff, and all was well for the first few weeks, but someone decided to have a nice little argument with him - this actually did a lot of damage to the community. Even though my brother had done nothing wrong, he decided to back down from his position to appease those who disliked him. What I'm saying, is even if you don't abuse your power in the forum, other people might well be encouraged to abuse you, you'd need to be prepared for that, too.

[da_zeg]

I never really thought of it that way. Although I wasn't meaning .
OMG he's got 1576 posts ->Moderator.
I was thinking more along the lines of the old uplink beta testers who certainly have respect and can be trusted.

Yes I have been moderator of a forum once - My friend created a forum for general talk, started off as just a few people from my year at school but ended up with hundreds of members. I had to control banned words, issue bans, delete accounts, delete obscene posts, spam and not one person, most of whom I had never met caused any trouble.

[Soulkeeper]

Yes I have been moderator of a forum once - My friend created a forum for general talk, started off as just a few people from my year at school but ended up with hundreds of members. I had to control banned words, issue bans, delete accounts, delete obscene posts, spam and not one person, most of whom I had never met caused any trouble.

You were lucky, then. Anyways, don't know if you've heard of it. But my bro helped with SMR, a community with a couple of thousand users; not the biggest, but a fair few people.